The Lesson
by That Tath
Summary: Lupin doesn't know which is worse Sitting through it or having to teach it.
1. Listening

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius, James, and Lily would all be alive and Peter wouldn't have ever been born. Since none of those things have happened, then I guess I don't own Harry Potter. **

**A/N: I have no idea if Lily knew that Remus was a werewolf or not, but for the sake of my story she didn't know about it yet. Also, I made up the Professors names off the top of my head. Sorry if anyone used it first or if it's someone's real name, I assure you it was randomly created. I am also assuming that Remus knew who had bitten him before his fifth year. **

"For homework, please write a page-long essay on how to deal with a vampire. Next class we will start learning about werewolves. Class dismissed."

Remus walked quickly out of the classroom, but not fast enough to avoid the whispers of his classmates. "Wow werewolves, finally an interesting creature…" "Filthy half-breeds, why they aren't just killed is beyond me…"

"Hey, Moony!" James and Sirius caught up to him. "Don't worry about those guys." James said, jerking his thumb back at the rest of their classmates. "They're all just idiots."

Before Remus could answer, Peter ran up to them, panting. "Can you believe we're studying werewolves next? I don't know anything about them, do you guys?"

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "Well gee, Peter, I don't know, you only hang out with-"

James kicked him as Lily walked up to them. "Hey Lily." James said, flashing a grin at her and running his fingers through his hair.

Lily ignored him and started talking to the others. "Can you guys believe we're learning about werewolves so late? I would've thought that we'd study them ages ago, aren't they usually taught in third or fourth year, not fifth? They seem really interesting though, I can't wait for the next class."

Remus nodded, trying to seem interested, which was hard to do when someone, standing mere feet away from you, is talking about your species like it was just another creature to learn about in class. _Which is exactly what most everyone probably thinks…_ Remus thought sadly.

The group of Gryffindor's walked to the Great Hall for supper. There, many of the fifth years were talking about their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The word "werewolf" was heard from every group of fifth years.

Remus's face paled as he heard the current topic of conversation. "You guys, I'm not feeling very hungry right now. I'll be up in the Common Room."

The rest of the Marauders watched him go, but didn't say anything. Lily, on the other hand, had no idea that Remus was a werewolf. "I wonder why he left so suddenly. I didn't think he looked that upset during Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Oh well, maybe he's just getting a bit sick again, you know, a relapse from his last illness or something…" Sirius suggested, trying to pretend that he didn't know what was wrong. It was rather easy to blame this on an illness; their classmates all knew that Remus supposedly got sick a lot.

"Maybe…" Lily said, wandering off to sit with her friends.

As usual, the Marauders sat by themselves, trying to avoid the others so they could try to talk about Remus. "Man, the next class is going to be awful for Remus." James said, trying to talk around a piece of meat.

Sirius nodded. "Do you think that the teachers might let him skip class?"

James shrugged. "Even if they did, I doubt Remus would actually skip. You know how he is…" Sirius just nodded again and the Marauders ate the rest of their meal in silence.

Up in the Gryffindor Tower, Remus was curled up in a chair reading a book, trying to distract himself from the thought of the next lesson. Although his eyes were reading the words, he wasn't really paying attention to them. _What if the others realize I'm a werewolf? What if they all hate me? What if Professor Grungly hints that I'm a werewolf? What if…?_

"Hey Moody, we brought you food." Remus jumped, not having heard them enter. Sirius walked over to him and dumped a pile of rolls and other various easily-transported pieces of food.

Remus grinned. "Thanks Padfoot." He said, taking a huge bite out of one of the rolls. "So, when do we have Defense Against the Dark Arts again?"

Sirius and James exchanged glances. "Well, it's not until next week…" James started. Remus looked up, hoping he was going to say it was right after the full moon. "But it's two days before the full moon. Sorry Remus."

Remus sighed and took another bite of food. "So not only am I going to have to sit through an entire class on werewolves, but I'm going to have to sit through it looking like hell because of the full moon?" He shook his head. "There is something seriously wrong about that…"

XXXXX

Everyone was surprised to see, not Professor Grungly, but a substitute, Professor Macnath. Remus paled when he saw her; he was pretty sure that she was not informed that she had a werewolf in her class today.

"So, what can you tell me about werewolves?" Professor Macnath asked. Most of the hands in the class shot up instantly. Remus hesitated, but put his hand up, hoping that he might be able to get some true information out before the class started talking about some of the myths and lies surrounding werewolves.

Professor Macnath looked around the room, before finally calling on Lily instead. Remus lowered his hand, hoping that she wouldn't be too harsh while telling her information.

"Werewolves are people who were bitten by a werewolf. Because of this, they turn into monsters-" Remus winced at that word. "-during the full moon. During this time they have no control over themselves and feed on humans if they aren't locked up." Remus winced at the last two words as well.

"Very good, five points to Gryffindor." Professor Macnath said. "Werewolves turn into monsters-" Remus tried not to react to that word again. "-once a month during the full moon. In the days immediately before and after their transformation they are pale and sickly looking." Remus looked down at his desk, hoping no one was making the connection.

"Can anyone tell me how you can tell the difference between a werewolf and a regular wolf?" Professor Macnath asked. Remus raised his hand, along with a few other people. Once again, she overlooked him and called on a boy in the back of the class.

"Can't you tell them apart by their pupils, snout, and tail?" The boy said, sounding slightly unsure of himself.

_Okay, they're going to know about the full moon and everything, but how many fifth years know how to identify a werewolf off the top of their head?_ Remus thought. _Have all of my classmates researched werewolves? _

His thoughts were interrupted by someone asking, "Aren't werewolves supposed to avoid garlic or something?"

Each of the Marauders snorted, laughed, or at least rolled their eyes at the question. _Guess not everyone's researched werewolves…_ Remus tried not to laugh.

Professor Macnath frowned at him. "No, that's vampires." She said. The class giggled softly. She sighed and changed the conversation topic. "What can you people tell me about Fenrir Greyback?" She asked.

Remus clenched his teeth, but slowly raised his hand to answer, his arm shaking slightly from anger. After scanning the room for a few seconds, he was finally called on.

"Fenrir Greyback is the most vicious and most feared werewolf around." His hands were balled up in fists under his desk, but he tried to talk in a normal voice. "He thinks his life's purpose is to turn as many people into werewolves as he can. He often goes after children so he can then raise them away from society and teach them to hate human."

Sirius was looking at his friend with a look of slightly shock on his face. Remus's anger wasn't extremely noticeable, but he could tell that he was mad and upset. He hadn't seen his friend angry a lot and it was surprising to see this reaction when he had been trying so hard not to give "any hints" to his classmates. _Wonder why he suddenly got all upset…_

"He also goes after the children of people who "refuse to cooperate"." Remus continued, now having a slightly harder time to control his anger. "In addition, he not only happily attacks people during the full moon, but also goes after them when he's not changed, enjoying the taste of human flesh and blood."

If Professor Macnath noticed his reaction to the question she didn't show it. "Very good, take fifteen points for Gryffindor. Now, for homework…"

Remus sighed and slumped down slightly in his chair. Why had he decided to answer that particular question? _You shouldn't have raised your hand!_ He chided himself. _What if someone makes the connection?_

Luckily for him, class was over shortly after that. He quickly left the classroom and made trying to ignore the sounds of his classmates talking about the class.

James, Sirius, and Peter caught up to him. "That wasn't too bad was it Moony?" James asked as they walked towards the Great Hall. Remus just glared at him, a rather annoyed look on his face. "Okay then, never mind."

"Hey Moody, why were you so mad when Greyback was brought up?" Sirius asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. "You were fine for most of the class, then it seemed like you just… I don't know, snapped."

Remus sighed and picked at the food on his plate. Finally, after a minute or so, he spoke. "When I was little, my dad got on his bad side." Both Sirius and James had identical looks of complete understanding on their faces. Peter was just oblivious to all of them. "So Fenrir attacked me."

For awhile the Marauders were silent, none of them having anything to say after Remus's comment. Slowly, a grin spread across Sirius's face and he reached for a dish known to be full of garlic. "Hey Moony, do you want any?"

Remus looked at the dish and started laughing. James joined in after realizing what Padfoot was holding and Sirius's laugh was louder than all of theirs. Even Wormtail started giggling, though that was only because everyone else was laughing and he didn't feel like being left out.

Lily looked over at them and shook her head. "Wonder why they're all laughing." A boy across the table from her said.

Lily let out a snort of laughter. "They're the Marauders." She said. "What do you expect?"


	2. Teaching

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of it. I wish I did, but I don't. **

**A/N: Okay, last chapter of the story (yes, this is only going to be two parts). Anything in italics is either Lupin's thoughts or direct flashback quotes from the last chapter. Enjoy!**

Remus sat at his desk, waiting for his fourth year Ravenclaw class. True, class didn't start for another fifteen minutes, but it beat sitting through lunch in the Great Hall, having to listen to the student's conversations about their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"_Wow werewolves, finally an interesting creature…" "Filthy half-breeds, why they aren't just killed is beyond me…"_ Even after all of these years he could still hear his classmates comments. Dumbledore has asked him to start the fourth years off with some lessons from the end of the third year curriculum. _Well, I can't say I blame him, especially considering who their last teacher was... _

It was going to be hard to talk about his kind without giving anything away about himself. Still, it promised to be easier than having to sit through the lesson. He had to grin as he realized that he was, once again, avoiding a meal because of the lesson.

_"Hey Moony. Don't worry about those guys, they're all just idiots."_ James's voice echoed through his head. He could always count on James to cheer him up, though it seemed like most of his methods involved breaking a few school rules.

"_Can you believe we're studying werewolves next? I don't know anything about them, do you guys?"_ Remus had to grin. Peter was rather hopeless most of the time.

"_Well gee, Peter..."_ No. Remus thought, cutting that memory short. He didn't want to think about him. He didn't want to think about the man who had killed his two other friends, the man who he once considered a friend as well.

Luckily his class began to arrive at that moment so he didn't have another chance to dwell on the past. After all of them had arrived he began The Lesson.

"Today we will be learning about werewolves." Remus said. "I know you've already covered this, but Professor Dumbledore asked me to go over the last few lessons in the third year curriculum, due to issues with your last professor's teaching methods." The class laughed softly. Lockhart's lessons had been nothing short of a joke; he had spent his lessons talking about his accomplishments and reading large sections of his books to his class.

"Now, a werewolf is simply a human being that has been bitten by another werewolf while they are transformed during the full moon. The bitten human then becomes a werewolf themselves." Remus said, notes appearing on the blackboards in the front of the classrooms. The class began scribbling down information as Lupin continued. "Once a month werewolves turn into full-fledged monsters." There was once a point when Remus would have avoided using that word at all costs, but it was the easiest word to use while teaching.

"While under the influence of the full moon werewolves have no control over themselves. If they aren't restrained-" He swallowed, but continued with barely a pause. "-they will run free and attack any human they meet. If they are separated from humans they will bite and scratch themselves." Remus resisted the urge to wince as he remembered how painful it used to be to transform. "A werewolf looses his mind during the full moon. They have no memory of who they are, no memory of their lives..." His voice trailed off slightly, but he caught himself and continued talking.

"However, werewolves are perfectly capable of being around animals during the full moon. In fact, if left alone with animals on a monthly basis, it has been found a the werewolf becomes less wolfish during his transformation." _And what a blessing that was..._ Remus thought, remembering how he would come back with less injuries after his friends became Animagi.

"There is no cure for someone who is a werewolf, yet with the recent discover of the Wolf's Bane potion, a werewolf who takes it leading up to the full moon will be able to form into a normal wolf and wait for the moon to wane." That was another blessing. It had been painful to transform without his friends, it had been hard to go back to the way it was before, but the Wolf's Bane Potion made such a difference.

"Now, does anyone know who Fenrir Greyback is?" Remus asked. A few people raised their hands. Remus called on a boy towards the back of the classroom.

"Fenrir Greyback is, quite possibly, the most vicious and feared werewolf." The boy said, sounding like he was reading from a textbook_. "He thinks his life's purpose is to turn as many people into werewolves as he can..."_ Remus didn't know if he was hearing the boy answer his question or remembering having to sit here in this very room and talk about the monster who bit him. His mind flashed back, remembering how he tried to stay calm during that class, even though his hands were balled up in fists and he was shaking from again. The memories were coming back to him again, just like they had that day, memories of playing outside, hearing Greyback's snarl, trying to run. Then the pain, the pain...

Remus was pulled back to the present by the realization that the room was silent. "Very good, take fifteen points for Gry- er, Ravenclaw." He said, quoting the subsitute he had had that day. "Homework is on the board. Class dismissed."

As the students gathered their books and left the classroom, Remus walked back to his desk and sat down. He had survived teaching the lesson. It wasn't easy, but he had done it. If you had asked him if sitting through it or teaching it was easier when he was fifteen, he would have said teaching it.

Now, he wasn't quite sure...


End file.
